BMC’s “big Farina cars”, especially the Wolseley, were not bought by the typical Brit in the 50s or early 60s. Although sitting on a 108″ wheelbase, about the same as a Falcon or Rambler, these were up the ladder a few rungs in the rigid auto-hierarchy of the times. I’m afraid I can’t tell you exactly what kind of man the typical Wolseley 6/110 owner was, but apparently they were loved by the London Metropolitan Police as “area cars”, a step up or two from the more lowly “patrol cars”. Even police cars had a well-defined class structure.

And why did the Police like them? Among other things, they were reasonably brisk, thanks to sharing an engine with the famous Austin Healey 3000. although in a lower state of tune.

The Wolseley 6/110 was a mild update on the 6/99, that first appeared in 1959 along with the other ‘Big Farina cars”. Pininfarina had been brought in to restyle the whole range of BMC cars in the mid-fifties, and the Austin A99 (slotted in below the Wolseley) and the very top-end Vanden Plas Princess 3-Litre were its stablemates.

They have their charms, especially now as splendid period pieces, but they were hardly an expression of Pininfarina’s best. I’m not sure whether that’s the result of meddling from BMC, or whatever, but none of them came out as clean and timeless as his Peugeot 404. But then their classic clubby British interiors of leather, wool and wood put them in a whole different league. As well as the big 3 liter six under the hood.

One of the changes from the 6/99 to the 6/110 was a bump in power. to 120 hp. And in reflection of its sportier quality, the gear shift for the three speed moved from the column down to the floor. the 1964 MkII version got the same four speed as the 3000. Overdrive, an automatic, Hydrosteer variable ratio power steering and even air conditioning were optional.

Built until 1968, this was the last big Wolseley. The world was changing, even if a bit slower in some parts of it.

58 Comments

I own Graham Robson’s book, “The Cars of BMC,” and there was just a dizzying array of badge engineering going on at the time. Keeping track of the myriad varieties of vehicles would take a lifetime of study.

From the front this could be mistaken for several different brands of car, I believe the interior is where most of the money to differentiate the many BMC brands was spent….with the rest spent under the hood, I mean bonnet.
Amazing how Farina was able to sell such similar designs in 2 very different countries.
Probably the “ideal” car among the British and French designs would be a Peugeot with a British 6 cylinder engine….and maybe interior (?) and built by the French.

I quite like these–not as clean as the 404, true, but an argument could be made that this “face” was one of the influences on the Volvo 164. Very classic, and well proportioned. Plus classic British luxury inside! Pity there are so few (any?) in the USA, given that they were never sold here.

A car for bank manager’s and senior Police Officers a step up from the Vauxhall Cresta and Ford Zodiac(in some people’s view but I know which I’d have given the choice) but very old fashioned in comparison.My awful social climbing snob of a headmaster had the Vanden Plas version.Perhaps it looks a bit too much like the 4 cylinder cars.The Austin 3 litre(a giant RWD Land Crab) replaced these but sales were dismal and it was quietly swept under the carpet .Wolsley like Riley was a dead man walking and they were finished a few years later

There’s something subtly wonderful about these cars, although you’ve got to be a somewhat rabid Anglophile to see (fantasize?) it. The strict English class structure made for some very interesting automobiles.

Then again, someone who sees something interesting in this kind of class differentiation, obviously never sees themselves on the bottom run, driving a clapped-out Austin 35. Looking at it from that point of view could easily justify a Marxist view of where the automotive industry should be going.

Wouldn’t you say a similar class structure existed in American cars? Ford/Mercury/Lincoln and the GM and Mopar brands.There was a curious overlap where a loaded Ford was edging into miser’s special Mercury prices.

What kind of person drove a Buick vs. a Pontiac? Could I tell a Mercury owner by observation, vs. a Ford? I always had trouble figuring out the social pigeonholes Detroit was trying to fill, and I grew up here. Thus, I’m skeptical of brand stereotypes. One thing I’ve learned is, average people only exist in statistical analysis. Real people often surprise you.

Many black folks were turned away by Cadillac (and I assume Lincoln) dealerships in the past, and had to buy using white intermediaries. A shocking bit of racism, but also interesting that they had the means to purchase.

There was, but what blurs the class lines for American cars is that there’s not really a substantial difference in running costs between a large car with a big engine and what Americans consider relatively small cars, which created a booming market for big pseudo-luxury cars (e.g., the Ford LTD and Chevrolet Caprice). The idea present in many other markets that big cars = luxurious simply because you have to be loaded to afford the cost of ownership is largely absent.

Yes Wolseley licence built Hispano Suiza OHC engines and used the bevelgear cam drive arrangement on their own engines from WW1 onwards untill BMC stopped the practice in 1954, last Wolseley OHC 6 was fitted to the 6/80 and Morris 6 that shared the same body.

The original Morris Minoir of the early 30 that became the MG midget was available with either a flathead 4 Morris engine or a 4 cylinder OHC Wolseley engine The generator was driven by the camshaft drive shaft housed upright at the front of the engine oil leaking into the generator often rendered them inoperable old school felt seals not being oil proof enough.

Back in the 60’s you had to be fairly well-off to buy a car this big.
If you wanted flash you bought a Vauxhall Cresta. If you wanted class you bought a Humber or maybe a Rover. If you wanted to be mistaken for Plod, you bought a Wolseley.

An Uncle and Aunt of mine bought a new 6/110 manual o/d in 63 they were relatively well off Dairy farmers they traded a 57 Velox on it but one of these was a major purchase requiring overseas funds you couldnt walk into a dealer and drive one away new cars took quite a bit on ingenuity to aquire in pre 1990s New Zealand

How much body component sharing was their between the “big” and “little”? Farinas? I was trying to figure that out from my old Auto Parades, but it’s not clear if this was a body stretch with a different roof cut and quarter panels, or something more — or less.

Yes that is right, the basic body was shared between all 5 variants of the cars.

In looking up that I stumbled across a page describing how in a meeting the BMC Australia chief engineer said it was a shame they couldn’t widen the car 5″ to better compete against the Falcon/Valiant/Holden. Instead of just cutting a body shell in half the experimental guys got a bit enthusiastic and produced a finished car complete with glazing and trim! However when it was shown to the director of engineering he told them off for wasting time and had the car cut up and dumped.

This is similar to what happened with the 1948 Morris Minor – the difference is that was done before the car was put into production!

The 4 cylinder series A55/60 was shared between all the different badge Austin, Morris, Riley, Wolseley, MG then BMC Australia came up with the freeway which was badged as everything they could get away with too but the bigger A99/6/110 body was Wolseley Austin Vanden Plas only, Ive a suspiscion these didnt get sold in Aussie as they are Holden Falcon sized do widening the smaller model would have been a waste of effort when the bigger car already existed.

Philip

Posted January 29, 2015 at 1:13 AM

That’s a fascinating photo. The same car, sized for Europe and sized for Australia. The first, an upright British saloon, the second, a freeway cruiser. Thanks.

Friends of mine have a 6/110 amongst several other Wolseleys and the grille badge definitely lights up its on the cohort somewhere in dark blue, Nice riding cars these definitely a step up from a Zodiac and a Cresta and much better finished inside Ive owned all three in various forms including earlier C series 6 powered BMC cars a A90 and Isis these were nice cars to drive fast and comfortable and by fitting the Healey triple carb head these big heavy tank can really fly.

These cars were really 1950s answers to the question. BY 1963-4, they were being trapped in a 2 way pincer movement between the just as spacious but better value and more fashionable Zephyr, Zodiac and Cresta, and the smaller, better engineered, better to drive but more prestigious Rover and Triumph 2000 saloons. BMC lost this bet: their large car was neither that stylish, spacious or as modern looking as the Ford for example or as good to drive and high value image as the Rover or Triumph.

The same thing happened in the 1990s: the Ford Granada, Opel/Vauxhall Senator, Rover 800, Renault Vel Satis all lost out to the Mercedes C Class, BMW 320 etc.on one side and the larger Volvos and Audi A6 on the other.

And the same thing happened to Rootes’s Humbers: in 1960, a full range of large, bank manager specials; by 1967 reduced to a Hillman Hunter with a fancy grille. The world moved on and, despite their later efforts with the (disastrous) 180/200 and Tagora, Rootes/Chrysler/Talbot never built a proper big car again.

It is wrong to compare the big Wolseley to the Ford Zodiac and Vauxhall Cresta it sold for a much higher price to a diferent market-even its lower priced clone the Austin Westminster was pricier than the big sixes from Ford and Vauxhall.They were all good cars but as Roger Carr rightly says the big car market in the UK collapsed in the mid 60s due to the more sophisticated and more prestigious cars offered by Triumph and Rover.Despite this the big Wolseley was beatifully built and luxurious and solid and stable as a rock at high speed even if it was old fashioned but thats a good thing 40 years later

Yep any of these big BMCs could cruise at 100mph the owners manual advises inflating the tyres to 31 psi for sustained cruising above 90mph even my rusted out 61 Westmonster could hold 105mph indicated on the flat and it was stable and smooth at speed much more so than any Zodiac or Cresta at lesser speeds

These cars only have the ‘longer’, not the lower or wider part of the late-50s style; look at how the rear fins extend past the trunk, as well as the eyebrows over the headlamps. BMC wanted the cars to look imposing but had to fit within the confines of British roads. I don’t think they made a ‘low’ car before the Issigonis cars, nor indeed any other mainstream British manufacturer.

I think Americans have to recuse ourselves from discussing class stratifications as known in Europe. There’s no way to really understand it if you’ve never had the specter of royalty hanging in the air. For us, it’s always been, regrettably, about skin color, native birth and speech patterns. But it all floats on money–whether or not you have enough to cross the other barriers. What kind of car did a wealthy American with mature tastes buy in 1961? Probably an English one!

I confess an infatuation with big British saloons such as this. They always seemed to be, as pointed out, “Right Sized”. But the aerodynamic qualities of that lip above the windshield remind me of the stories of the first Daytona runs of the 1957 Chrysler 300D.

I wonder if the light-up grille badge still works? Always liked that about these cars. The old London Wolsley showroom on Piccadilly is now a fine restaurant, and a new home for London’s power breakfasts:

Aaahhh memories,in 1981 my longterm,5 years,girlfriend and me travelled to Europe and the Mediterranean for approx 6 or 7 weeks.I had just sold the mint 1972 VW Dormobile camper but kept the 1971 Fiat 500 bambino,also had just sold the 1959 Fiat 500 Nuova.While we were travelling I allowed,rent free,a mate to live in and look after our large rented inner city house.Upon our return she ran off with him,I gave her the Fiat 500 and bought a rusty 1959 Fiat Multipla and a 1954 Vauxhall Velox ute.The Velox had been resprayed in a bright jube green colour with a safari style black and white striped canvas tonneau cover.My first ute and it looked great.Also bought a low milage 1975 mint Renault 16TS and a large 1887 timber 3 storey terrace on the historic suburb of the Glebe in Hobart.The Glebe is a steep and hilly suburb on the edge of the Queen’s Domain,a very large natural parkland in the city.The Multipla had a problem with its brakes so I drove it to a repairer and told them no haste because I wouldn’t be back for 10 days,off to do another 10 day silent Vipassana Buddhist meditation retreat.The Velox was parked on the street in front of my terrace house and the Multipla a bit further along.The woman opposite drove a Wolseley just like this one and parked it at the top of the steep part of the garden at the side of the historic house opposite.I drove the 16TS south to the remote site near Dover.10 days later I return home and my beautiful ute is crushed into the gutter,a wreck,my neighbour told me she parked her beast,forgot to put the handbrake on and as she alighted the Wols ran down the hill and smashed into the ute.Had the ute not been there it would have been a major housing disaster! After the 16TS I bought a mint Peugeot 404 sedan and in 1986 I sold the house and moved to Adelaide to work for the Australian government.I came home to Tasmania a few years later and my neighbour showed me photos of a mustard coloured 1970 404 which had a brake failure and had smashed into the front of my former house causing considerable damage.You have to laugh!

Those old EIP utes were BOF too built on a CA Bedford van chassis quite tough but I agree no match for 30cwt of BMC tank they were favourites for demo derbies here those and SuperSnipes virtually indestructable if all you do is hit them with other cars.

I’ve always been at least a casual fan, but reading CC these last few years has really turned me into a full blown BMC-junkie. This car may have missed the mark back in its day, but the idea of a ’60s U.K. version of a P71 Crown Vic with an Austin-Healey six and 4-speed completely blows my mind. I wanna drive it so badly… preferably through London late at night in the rain, and with that tri-carb conversion Bryce mentioned!

I wonder how this particular 6/110 ended up in Canada… BMC sold them there, but in LHD-form obviously, so somebody went out of their way to put this one in an Ontario parking lot.

Here’s another great Fitzpatrick & Kaufman-inspired ad from BMC Canada featuring a 6/110:

Back to the widening of the Austin saloon….There were plans for an Austin Healey 4000. About five were produced, they were made using widened Healey 3000 body shells and used the engine from the 4 litre R. Very much with the US market in mind they were all to have been autos. Sir William Lyons, Jaguar’s boss was behind the 4000s demise, I imagine he can’t have been too happy about a direct competitor to the E type. I’ve seen one in the flesh and a very impressive car it was.

Used to thumb rides from college to home back in the mid ’60s in Nova Scotia Canada, about 90 miles. Got a ride in a newish automatic Austin Westminster for most of the way one day. Two-tone green. Nice. Real leather seats too, and thick carpet. See, I remember that thing to this day! It was the “cheap” version of this Wolseley.

Compared to contemporary Chevs or Fords, it was solid, and smooth. The numerous RR crossings showed what a decently sorted suspension could do. No krang and rattles and wild bobbing. Just sort of glided over them. Kind of freaked me out as a car nut at the time, as my two friends at college who actually had cars owned a 1961 Morris Oxford, a miniature version of this featured Wolseley with an asthmatic 1622 cc four, and a 1962 Volvo.

The Morris was rubbish by comparison, I must say. The Volvo a bit bouncy. It had never occurred to me up till then that Austin/BLMC made even one decent car, but that big six changed my mind. We had self-disintegrating Minis and 1100s all over the place killing off BLMC loyalty, so a big old-style smoothie got my attention. Probably died the next week of some silly fault or another, but it was a standout hitchhiker ride for me.

As almost was a ’54 Chev with a backseat half full of taters. Some gormless but friendly farmer just trying to help. Guy thought I could just climb in on top of ’em. Right. They weren’t even washed! Only ride I ever turned down, except for the drunks, cheerful or otherwise.